Nokia Corporation
Stock Exchange Release
May 6, 2010 at 15.10 (CET +1)
Kallasvuo addresses Nokia AGM, says 2010 a key year
Helsinki, Finland - Nokia has built a solid foundation for future success, CEO
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told shareholders Thursday.
"By combining services with devices, Nokia is in a stronger position to grow and
create more value for our shareholders," Kallasvuo said. "We still have plenty
of work to do, but we have built a solid foundation. We believe in our
strategy."
Nokia's strategy is based on the vision of a future that is truly mobile.
People increasingly live their lives in ways that are free from the constraints
of place; they want to be able to access and experience the things that matter
to them, and share those experiences with others, wherever they are and whatever
they happen to be doing.
Kallasvuo said about 83 million people around the world are already registered
active users of Nokia services, which increasingly are included with the
purchase of a Nokia mobile device.
As evidence of Nokia's achievements thus far, Kallasvuo cited the following
statistics:
- The Ovi Store, which opened a year ago this month, is now averaging about 1.7
million downloads a day. There are also localized versions of the store in 18
countries, supporting 30 different languages.
- Nokia's free pedestrian and car navigation software has been downloaded more
than 10 million times since it was launched in January. The service is now
available for more than 70 countries and in more than 45 languages.
- Comes With Music, which makes millions of songs available for download at no
extra cost for up to a year with the purchase of certain Nokia devices, was
recently launched in China and India - two of the world's largest and
fastest-growing markets.
- Nokia Messaging is growing rapidly, supported by more than 70 operators
globally.
- Ovi Mail, which is targeting the billions of potential first-time e-mail users
around the world, has registered 8 million subscriptions. That's a rate of
about 1 million subscribers a month.
- Nokia Life Tools is providing people in India and Indonesia with agricultural
information, educational services and entertainment. In less than a year, it
has attracted more than 1.5 million paying subscribers, and Kallasvuo announced
the service will soon be extended to China.
Kallasvuo said the rapidly growing demand for applications, games and other
mobile content is no longer just a Western phenomenon. "It's a global trend
that plays to one of Nokia's strengths, our global presence," he said.
Kallasvuo cited the success of a Finnish company, Offscreen Technologies, which
makes a variety of mobile applications. People from virtually every country in
the world have downloaded Offscreen's apps with Nokia devices more than 25
million times.
In reviewing Nokia's performance in 2009, Kallasvuo noted that the company sold
432 million devices worldwide - more than its top three competitors combined.
2009 marked Nokia's 12th consecutive year as the world's largest manufacturer of
mobile devices.
But 2009, Kallasvuo noted, was a difficult year, due to a weak global economy.
"The recession coincided with our transformation, as well as changes in our
device portfolio. With all these factors together, it resulted in a decrease in
operating profit and earnings per share, compared with 2008. Despite the
challenging conditions, Nokia continued to maintain strict controls on costs and
has maintained a solid financial position," Kallasvuo said.
This year, Nokia is planning to introduce a new generation of devices that is
expected to help close the gap with the competition in high-end smartphones,
Kallasvuo said.
"Our approach has been to concentrate on fewer, competitive products that bring
the features of Symbian-based smartphones to more and more people around the
world. And we are well on our way to doing that."
In addition, Nokia is continuously improving the experience and value of Ovi
services that are tightly integrated with its devices, creating reasons for
people to start using them and to come back again and again.
Kallasvuo expressed optimism about the MeeGo software platform, which will be
used for Nokia's next mobile computer.
"We are working hard to reclaim leadership in high-end smartphones and mobile
computers." he said. "It is critical that we improve the customer experience
with the usability of both our devices and our services."
About Nokia
At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced
technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what
matters to them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another
with a Nokia device - from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and
high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with
innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps,
email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and
navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services
and solutions for communications networks globally.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that certain statements herein
which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including,
without limitation, those regarding: A) the timing of the deliveries of our
products and services and their combinations; B) our ability to develop,
implement and commercialize new technologies, products and services and their
combinations; C) expectations regarding market developments and structural
changes; D) expectations and targets regarding our industry volumes, market
share, prices, net sales and margins of products and services and their
combinations; E) expectations and targets regarding our operational priorities
and results of operations; F) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation;
G) expectations regarding the successful completion of acquisitions or
restructurings on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the financial and
operational targets set in connection with any such acquisition or
restructuring; and H) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate,"
"foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "plans," "will" or similar
expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and
beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they
involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the
results that we currently expect. Factors that could cause these differences
include, but are not limited to: 1) the competitiveness and quality of our
portfolio of products and services and their combinations; 2) our ability to
timely and successfully develop or otherwise acquire the appropriate
technologies and commercialize them as new advanced products and services and
their combinations, including our ability to attract application developers and
content providers to develop applications and provide content for use in our
devices; 3) our ability to effectively, timely and profitably adapt our business
and operations to the requirements of the converged mobile device market and the
services market; 4) the intensity of competition in the various markets where we
do business and our ability to maintain or improve our market position or
respond successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 5) the
occurrence of any actual or even alleged defects or other quality, safety or
security issues in our products and services and their combinations; 6) the
development of the mobile and fixed communications industry and general economic
conditions globally and regionally; 7) our ability to successfully manage costs;
8) exchange rate fluctuations, including, in particular, fluctuations between
the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen
and the Chinese yuan, as well as certain other currencies; 9) the success,
financial condition and performance of our suppliers, collaboration partners and
customers; 10) our ability to source sufficient amounts of fully functional
components, sub-assemblies, software, applications and content without
interruption and at acceptable prices and quality; 11) our success in
collaboration arrangements with third parties relating to the development of new
technologies, products and services, including applications and content; 12) our
ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing and logistics, as well as to
ensure the quality, safety, security and timely delivery of our products and
services and their combinations; 13) our ability to manage our inventory and
timely adapt our supply to meet changing demands for our products; 14) our
ability to protect the complex technologies, which we or others develop or that
we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual
property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable
terms of certain technologies in our products and services and their
combinations; 15) our ability to protect numerous Nokia, NAVTEQ and Nokia
Siemens Networks patented, standardized or proprietary technologies from
third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property
rights of these technologies; 16) the impact of changes in government policies,
trade policies, laws or regulations and economic or political turmoil in
countries where our assets are located and we do business; 17) any disruption to
information technology systems and networks that our operations rely on; 18) our
ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled
employees; 19) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 20) allegations of possible
health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile
devices and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; 21) our ability to
achieve targeted costs reductions and increase profitability in Nokia Siemens
Networks and to effectively and timely execute related restructuring measures;
22) developments under large, multi-year contracts or in relation to major
customers in the networks infrastructure and related services business; 23) the
management of our customer financing exposure, particularly in the networks
infrastructure and related services business; 24) whether ongoing or any
additional governmental investigations into alleged violations of law by some
former employees of Siemens AG ("Siemens") may involve and affect the
carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia Siemens
Networks; 25) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer relationships
resulting from ongoing or any additional governmental investigations involving
the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; as
well as the risk factors specified on pages 11-32 of Nokia's annual report Form
20-F for the year ended December 31, 2009 under Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other
unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving
to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to
publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
Media Enquiries:
Nokia
Communications
Tel. +358 7180 34900
Email: press.services@nokia.com
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo's speech at Nokia Annual General Meeting will be available
later today also at www.nokia.com/agm
www.nokia.com